RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

A November 15, 2018 The Island Now article announced that the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) awarded $100,000 to the Litwin-Zucker Center for the Study of Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. According to AFA CEO Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., “Enhancing quality of life for families affected by Alzheimer’s disease is critically important to AFA. Finding more effective treatments for hallucination and aggression will make it easier for families to keep their loved one at home longer, avoid costly healthcare settings, and most importantly, improve quality of life for individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers.”

DISPARITIES SPOTLIGHT

Check out this touching short film, “PJ's Unforgettable Pies,” from our partner Alzheimer's Los Angeles, about the love between a husband and wife in the face of Alzheimer's. Share this video to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s and dementia, and make sure people like Phyllis and Ray never have to face this alone.

A November 15, 2018 Yes! Weekly article spotlighted the stage play, “Dot,” a humorous window into Alzheimer’s disease and its effect on a middle-class African-American Philadelphia family. “The holidays are always a wild family affair at the Shealy house. But this year, Dotty and her three grown children gather with more than exchanging presents on their minds. Dotty struggles to hold on to her memory as Alzheimer’s begins to take its toll and managing her illness has fallen like a ton of bricks on the shoulders of her daughter, Shelly.”

CLINICAL TRIAL SPOTLIGHT

A November 12, 2018 WMTV NBC 15 broadcast segment spotlighted the WRAP (Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention) Study, which received 19 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health to continue its work. As the largest family history study of AD in the world, it continues to recruit participants, especially more African-American and Latino volunteers. Get more information here.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

A November 16, 2018 Open Access Government article spotlighted the EU Joint Programme – Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND), the largest global research initiative aimed at tackling Alzheimer’s, amongst other neurodegenerative diseases. The work centers on increasing coordinated investment in collaborative research to discover causes, and develop cures and appropriate ways to care for people with neurodegenerative diseases. According to the article, “In terms of the cost of dementia care across Europe, the JPND highlight that today, it costs in the region €130 billion every year to care for people with dementia, so age-related diseases are one of the leading societal and medical challenges faced by EU society.”

CAREGIVING CORNER

Check-out the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving's YouTube Channel. It features a variety of videos including caregiver testimonials, PSAs, interviews and webinars.  

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

According to a November 15, 2018 The Lane Report article, the National Institute on Aging, in order to generate new ideas in Alzheimer’s disease research, offers researchers in other fields (already funded by the NIH) additional money to explore links between their research and AD. Levi Beverly, PhD of the University of Louisville received $385,000 to look for links between his cancer research on ubiquilin proteins and Alzheimer’s. “The protein ubiquilin is lost in both cancer and Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. What we hope to discover is how this protein, which is associated with aberrant cell growth in cancer, also is associated with aberrant cell death in neurodegenerative diseases,” said Beverly.